Not all hybrid clouds are created equal
Independent certifications can make comparing complex cloud providers easier than you thought.
The challenges hybrid cloud models are designed to address are well understood. Not all workloads and applications are suitable for cloud environments. Some types of data or industry verticals operate in highly regulated environments that may make shared public clouds inappropriate. Stretched designs are flexible and protect you from proprietary lock-in technologies. And they’re uniquely placed to help free time, money and talent at a time when IT budgets are falling in real terms and talent costs are growing 4X inflation.
It’s little surprise that over 8-in-10 Australian organisations are opting for a hybrid cloud design as a result.
Secure Hybrid Cloud.
Hybrid Clouds – for all their benefits – can be potentially vulnerable to security threats due to their highly distributed nature. Increasingly, as trends like containerisation and serverless design accelerate, cloud solutions are becoming more and more abstracted and more and more complicated. While this can have other consequences (like more complex and variable billing) it can also make implementing a complete defence-in-depth security model challenging.
Your cloud services partner selection is crucial to ensuring you can enjoy hybrid capability upsides while being protected against potential security downsides.
The answer is letting independently assessed certifications qualify the right hybrid cloud vendor for you.
Each vertical has its own unique requirements e.g. LaunchTM Health Cloud was launched to deliver a compliant solution for healthcare organisations working with the requirements of the Department of Human Services. While it’s strongly recommended you discuss your specific requirements with a trusted partner, the following certifications provide an objective framework for assessing cloud services providers:
- ISO – including ISO27001 International Organization for Standardization data security certification.
- ITIL – the most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world.
- PCI – a global financial industry standard for individually identifiable financial data.
- ISM – government standards produced by the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) within the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) to help protect information and systems.
- CCSL – which uses the Information Security Registered Assessors Program (IRAP) to list cloud vendors meeting unclassified and PROTECTED certifications.
We can make these certifications available on request and suggest they should represent the absolute minimum standard for any potential hybrid cloud partner.
Macquarie Cloud Services
We’re different. For over 18 years, we’ve leveraged our own Australian Data Centres, NV1 certified engineers over here, not over there, and our own Telco and security capabilities to deliver hybrid cloud solutions designed for you, not for us. It’s why we’re supporting over 42% of all federal government agencies, and leading organisations from the University of Technology Sydney to Westpac. Your security is too important to be left to API’s, portals and tickets. Talk to our cloud security architects about what these certifications can mean for you, and how they can be integrated into your total defence-in-depth model. Because it’s about technology. And people.
[1] Building a viable IT budget for 2019: Seven critical steps
[2] 2018 Robert Half Salary Guide
[3] Dell EMC Forum keynote; Rightscale 2018 State of the Cloud report, August 2018